Ray Wersching

Field goals made:	222
Field goal attempts:	329
Field goal %:	67.5
	Stats at Pro Football Reference

Ray Wersching
No. 15, 6, 14
Position:	Placekicker
Personal information
Born:	August 21, 1950 (age 74); Mondsee, Austria
Height:	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight:	215 lb (98 kg)
Career information
College:	California
Undrafted:	1973
Career history
	San Diego Chargers (1973–1976); San Francisco 49ers (1977–1987);
Career highlights and awards
	2× Super Bowl champion (XVI, XIX); Second-team All-Pro (1986); NFL scoring leader (1984);
Career NFL statistics
Field goals made:
Field goals made:	222
Field goal attempts:	329
Field goal %:	67.5
	Stats at Pro Football Reference

Raimund "Ray" Wersching (born August 21, 1950) is an Austrian former player of American football who was a placekicker for 15 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) from 1973 through 1987. He played college football for the California Golden Bears.

Early career

He attended Warren High School in Downey, California.

NFL career

Undrafted after his career at Cerritos College and the University of California, Berkeley, Wersching was signed by the San Diego Chargers, where he played for four years. In 1977, Wersching joined the San Francisco 49ers. In Super Bowl XVI, Wersching tied a Super Bowl record by kicking four field goals, and his field position kick-offs also helped his team win, 26–21. He won another Super Bowl ring with the 49ers in Super Bowl XIX, defeating the Miami Dolphins 38–16. When he retired, Wersching held 49ers records for points, field goals and extra points. He was the 12th player in NFL history to score 1,000 points in a career, and was the last player to have scored on a fair catch kick until 2024 by Cameron Dicker, also a kicker for the Chargers.^[1]^[2]

Wersching had a unique kicking style. Upon crossing the out of bound line onto the field to kick a field goal or extra point, he always looked down, never raising his head until after he kicked.^[3]

Career regular season statistics

Career high/best bold

Season	Team	G	FGM	FGA	%	LNG	XPM	XPA	%	PTS
1973	SD	14	11	25	44.0	39	13	15	86.7	46
1974	SD	14	5	11	45.5	42	–	–	–	15
1975	SD	14	12	24	50.0	45	20	21	95.2	56
1976	SD	9	4	8	50.0	45	14	16	87.5	26
1977	SF	10	10	17	58.8	50	23	23	100.0	53
1978	SF	16	15	23	65.2	45	24	25	96.0	69
1979	SF	16	20	24	83.3	47	32	35	91.4	95
1980	SF	16	15	19	78.9	47	33	39	84.6	78
1981	SF	12	17	23	73.9	48	30	30	100.0	81
1982	SF	9	12	17	70.6	45	23	25	92.0	59
1983	SF	16	25	30	83.3	52	51	51	100.0	126
1984	SF	16	25	35	71.4	53	56	56	100.0	131
1985	SF	16	13	21	61.9	45	52	53	98.1	91
1986	SF	16	25	35	71.4	50	41	42	97.6	116
1987	SF	12	13	17	76.5	45	44	46	95.7	83
Career		206	222	329	67.5	53	456	477	95.6	1,122

Other

Wersching holds an inactive public accountant's license.^[4] He was a contestant on the original version of the game show High Rollers in 1975.^[5]

In 2006; Wersching along with business partner Mary Ann Locke were indicted on embezzlement charges of $8 million in insurance premiums.^[6] Wersching served six months in home confinement and was placed on probation for two years, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. When he pleaded guilty in December 2007 to failing to file a corporate tax return, federal prosecutors dropped charges that he had been involved in an $8 million embezzlement (while Locke served time in prison) but would lose his business as a result.^[7]

References

^ "Taking advantage of an obscure rule, Chargers' Dicker makes NFL's first fair-catch kick in 48 years)". AP(per Yahoo), Dec 19, 2024;"The rule is obscure because teams rarely find themselves in circumstances to make such a kick feasible. Only five NFL teams had previously tried the kick in the 21st century, and nobody had successfully executed it since Ray Wersching did it for the San Diego Chargers 48 years ago."
^ "Quirky Research: NFL fair catch kick attempts™".
^ "Kicker lined up success in NFL, but life after game proves harder". April 21, 2009.
^ California, State of. "California Board of Accountancy - License Lookup". www2.dca.ca.gov.
^ Million Colors of Light (August 18, 2016). "High Rollers (July 4, 1975)". Archived from the original on December 21, 2021 – via YouTube.
^ "SAN FRANCISCO / Former 49er indicted in embezzlement case / Ray Wersching was a placekicker for S.F. from 1977 to '87". March 23, 2006.
^ "Charges dropped against Ray Wersching". UPI. December 16, 2008. Retrieved August 22, 2021.

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[1] "Taking advantage of an obscure rule, Chargers' Dicker makes NFL's first fair-catch kick in 48 years)". AP(per Yahoo), Dec 19, 2024;"The rule is obscure because teams rarely find themselves in circumstances to make such a kick feasible. Only five NFL teams had previously tried the kick in the 21st century, and nobody had successfully executed it since Ray Wersching did it for the San Diego Chargers 48 years ago."

[2] "Quirky Research: NFL fair catch kick attempts™".

[3] "Kicker lined up success in NFL, but life after game proves harder". April 21, 2009.

[4] California, State of. "California Board of Accountancy - License Lookup". www2.dca.ca.gov.

[5] Million Colors of Light (August 18, 2016). "High Rollers (July 4, 1975)". Archived from the original on December 21, 2021 – via YouTube.

[6] "SAN FRANCISCO / Former 49er indicted in embezzlement case / Ray Wersching was a placekicker for S.F. from 1977 to '87". March 23, 2006.

[7] "Charges dropped against Ray Wersching". UPI. December 16, 2008. Retrieved August 22, 2021.

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